Sunday

I have had a very nice Sunday - quite relaxing. I've been working on my Italian. I made it through unit one. If I pace myself right I should have my entire level one completed by mid-May, and level two well before I leave for my trip in September. I might even make it part way through level three as well.

I woke up this morning to the wonderful sound of birds singing in the trees outside of the window. If the temperature wasn't exactly spring-like at least the sounds of Spring are in the air today. I've even been enjoying the sounds of the fountain that Tim & Elda gave me for Christmas this year. Very soothing.

I grabbed the camera up this afternoon and snapped several photos of the Robins out in the field behind the apartment. These are three different birds. I was pleased that the zoom on the camera was able to bring them in this close.

I was going to harrass Walter this afternoon, but he has disappeared. I be he is off visiting with Patrick this afternoon. I'm glad to see that he at least getting out to talk with someone other than me.

I checked the potted peony on the patio and much to my surprise they've alreaady popped their heads out of the ground. It won't be long before the whole patio starts to green up. No leaves on the dogwood yet, but the branches are pilable, so it survived the winter.

I'm heading out to do laundry this evening. I just keep putting if off. It is that darn trip across the street that is the kicker. June can't come quick enough when comes to doing laundry - at least then I'll have a washer & dryer in the apartment. No more going out.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

URGENT! government health warning:

DO NOT SWALLOW CHEWING GUM . . .

Saturday

I had a busy day - I was off to the office for a half day of office clean up. We accomplished quite alot, but there were a few things left undone.

I spent the afternoon doing a quick clean up of the apartment before Dean came over. I was hoping that Sean would come as well, but he was off with one of his friends.

Dean & I spent a few hours finishing up filing out our last set of taxes together. Taxes in general a a real pain, but the good news is that we both end up getting refunds. Yippee!!

An Icy Friday

We had some freezing rain here last night. It’s not on the ground, but definitely on the windshields. It should make for an interesting morning getting into work.

Turns out that the icy conditions this weren't all that bad, no trouble going in. I didn't even hear about any accidents.

Mom sent me an email today letting me know that her photo buddy, Chris Vlk, had been successful in getting photos of the eclipse. This is the link to his site.

I found out this evening that I'll be going to a conference in Nashville the first weekend in April. I'm glad Walt's going to be around to take care of Carla for me. The trip should be highly enlightening and educational. Lots to learn and take in.

Then I'll be off to Cleveland, OH in May, followed by my trip to Italy in September. It turns out that this is going to be a year of travel. Some for business and definitely some for fun. Walt & I've got some weekend scheduled to hit Bush Gardens this summer as well. I'm looking forward to the concert series again.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Thought For The Day: Face your deficiencies and acknowledge them; but do not let them master you. Let them teach you patience, sweetness, insight. — Helen Keller

This one is for everyone who...

a) has kids
b) had kids
c) was a kid
d) knows a kid
e) is going to have kids.
I guess that means all of us!!

DADDY'S GONNA EAT YOUR FINGERS
I was packing for my business trip and my three year old daughter was having a wonderful time playing on the bed. At one point she said,'Daddy, look at this', and stuck out two of her fingers.

Trying to keep her entertained, I reached out and stuck her tiny fingers in my mouth and said, 'Daddy's gonna eat your fingers,' pretending to eat them.

I went back to packing, looked up again and my daughter was standing on the bed staring at her fingers with a devastated look on her face.

I said, 'What's wrong, honey?'

She replied, 'What happened to my booger?'

Color Is Good
Yesterday I went to the doctor for my yearly physical.
My blood pressure was high, my cholesterol was high,
I'd gained some weigh, and I didn't feel so hot.
My doctor said eating right doesn't have to
be complicated and it would solve my physical
problems. He said just think in colors...
Fill your plate with bright colors...green,
yellows, red, etc.

I went right home and ate an entire bowl of:
And sure enough, I felt better immediately.
I never knew eating right could be so easy!
This Hurts
The pastor asked if anyone in the congregation would like to express Praise for answered prayers. A lady stood and walked to the podium She said, 'I have a Praise.' Two months ago, my husband, Jim, had a terrible bicycle wreck and his scrotum was completely crushed. The pain was excruciating and the doctors didn't know if they could help him.'

You could hear an audible gasp from the men in the congregation as they imagined the pain that poor Jim experienced. She continued, 'Jim was unable to hold me or the children and every move caused him terrible pain. We prayed as the doctors performed a delicate operation. They were able to piece together the crushed remnants of Jim's scrotum and wrap wire around it to hold it in place.'

Again, the men in the Congregation squirmed uncomfortably as they imagined the horrible surgery performed on Jim. She continued, 'Now, Jim is out of the hospital and the doctor's say, with time, his scrotum should recover completely.' All the men sighed with relief.

The pastor rose and tentatively asked if any one else had anything to say.

A man rose and walked slowly to the podium. He said, 'I'm Jim and I want to tell my wife, the word is sternum.'

The Power of Prayer
Someone has said if Christians really understood the full extent of the powerwe have available through prayer, we might be speechless. Did you know that during WWII there was an advisor to Churchill who organized a group of people who dropped what they were doing every day at a prescribed hour for one minute to collectively pray for the safety of England, its people and peace?

There is now a group of people organizing the same thing here in America. If you would like to participate: Every evening at 9:00 PM Eastern Time (8:00 PM Central) (7:00 PM Mountain) (6:00 PM Pacific), stop whatever you are doing and spend one minute praying for the safety of the United States, our troops, our citizens, and for a return to a Godly nation. If you know anyone else who would like to participate, please pass this along. Our prayers are the most powerful asset we have.

Daddy, how was I born?
A little boy goes to his father and asks 'Daddy, how was I born?'

The father answers, 'Well, son, I guess one day you will need to find out anyway!

Your Mom and I first got together in a chat room on Yahoo. Then I set up a date via e-mail with your Mom and we met at a cyber-cafe.

We sneaked into a secluded room, where your mother agreed to a download from my hard drive.

As soon as I was ready to upload, we discovered that neither one of us had used a firewall, and since it was too late to hit the delete button, nine months later a little Pop-Up appeared that said:

You've Got Male!

Thursday

As I was headed down to bed last night, I saw what appeared to be snow on the car. I walked out to the car and sure enough there was a very, very thin layer of snow on the roof. I knew Walter wouldn't believe me, so I scooped up just the tiniest snowball and took it back inside. Where I proceeded to throw it at the back of his head. Now, I was just trying to make his neck cold, but succeeded in having snow go down the back of his shirt and into the waist band of his pants. He was funny trying to get it out.

This is the sight that greeted me as I headed out to work this morning - just a frozen dusting of snow - only on the vehicle.

Congratulations, Sean!

Sean got some good news yesterday, he has been accepted into the GED prepretory class. This means that he'll only be going to school from 7-9 a.m. everyday. His test scores to get into the program were quite good.

Mom did a great job getting this picture of the eclipse. She'll say, it isn't but give the fact that she doesn't have one of those extremely long professional lens. It is pretty darn good. Better than I did. I didn't even get a single shot - cloud cover. Ah, another time.

The weather in for in the morning is predicted to be cold and icy. It is predicited that we'll have freezing rain before midnight and snow after that. With more freezing rain on Friday before noon. Now I really am going to pout about somebody telling me all about the wonderful Spring weather that they are experiencing.

Wednesday

It is a very cold evening. I could see my breath as I walked between Walter's apartment and mine.

I was looking forward to getting to see the lunar eclipse this evening, but the cloud cover didn't cooperate. We're just out of luck here. I'm hoping that I am fortunate enough to have one of my more Southern dwelling friends send me up a photo of the eclipes. I just hope everyone stays up late enough.

Tuesday

The weather turned cold again. We got spoiled there for a couple of days, and just teased with a prelude to actual Spring. I did notice crocus' blooming in the median strip on Huguenot Road this morning.

I picked Sean up this afternoon, and was able to get a few snapshots of him and his new look. Enough said...

On the lighter side, Walter's old Geo has been undergoing restoration over the past year and currently is sporting this technicolored paint job.

And don't forget this golden oldie...It is amazing what a year can do for a bit of battle damage.

Mom told me that there is going to be a lunar eclipse tomorrow evening. I've invited her to come down and sit on Walter's porch with me and shoot some photos. I do hope that the skies aren't overcast and that she'll be able to come.

Monday

As I came upstairs this morning the sidewalks are still wet - it must have rained on and off all night. We're not in drought conditions here, but so many other places are that every bit of rain is precious. It would be nice to head into the summer not in drought conditions.

The boss gets back in from a week away of seminars. I'm sure that there will be a whole lot to get caught up on with him as well as the usual things.

Walt's off to physical therapy again today - he keeps on plugging at it.

The temperature was absolutely divine today. It was nearly 70-degrees. Wonderful.

Sunday

Walt & I have had a pleasant day. We did a little furniture shopping this afternoon, followed by a late lunch at the Waffle House.

Late this evening we were sitting around and the power went out. Walt found the candles while I call the power company. It seems that there was a widespread outage due to an equipment fire.

Walter said that he was going to invoke "Murphy's Law" by getting the candles all lit. He said that it was inveitable that by the time he got all the candles lit that the power would come back on. Well low and behold as he was on his way to sit down the power popped right back on. Walter said it just proved his theory or it could have been just a fairly speedy/planned out outage on the part of the power company.

As I went home last night it had started to rain. We've been short on that here and every little bit helps.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:
A Republican cowboy from Texas attends a social function which Hillary Clinton is attending and trying to gather more support for her nomination. Once she discovers the cowboy is a Republican, she starts to belittle him by talking in a southern drawl and single syllable words.

As she was doing that, she kept swatting at some flies that were buzzing around her head. The cowboy says, "Y'all havin' some problem with them "circle flies?"

She stopped talking and said, "Well yes, if that's what they're called. But I've never heard of "circle flies."

"Well ma'am," the cowboy replies, "circle flies" hang around ranches. They're called "circle flies" because they're almost always found circling around the back end of a horse."

"Oh," Hillary replies as she goes back to rambling. But, a moment later she stops and bluntly asks, "Are you calling me a horse's ass?"

"No, ma'am," the cowboy replies, "I have too much respect for citizens of New York to call their Senator a horse's ass."

"That's a good thing," she responds and begins rambling on once more. After pausing to take a breath, the cowboy, in his best Texas drawl adds, "Hard to fool them flies though."

Saturday

What a lovely Saturday morning! The temperature is only showing as 40ish on the outdoor thermometer, but it surely feels warmer than that.

Carla has enjoyed me being home this morning. Running in and out almost at whim. She sure likes laying in the grass in a nice sunny spot.

Walt took me out for a nice lunch at the Thai restaurant this afternoon. It was very nice as usual. They also remembered us and gave us extra special attention. They even sent Walt home with a take out Thai tea! After we got home we've been watching Pearl Harbour and I've finally gotten around to taking down the Christmas decorations! Hard to believe, I know, but definitely about time.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Thought For the Day: "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead

This one is too funny!

A Toddler's Tea Party!!
One day my mother was out and my dad was in charge of me and my brother who is four years older than I am. I was maybe 1 and a half years old and had just recovered from an accident in which my arm had been broken among other injuries.

Someone had given me a little 'tea set' as a get-well gift and it was one of my favorite toys. Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news and my brother was playing nearby in the living room when I brought Daddy a little cup of 'tea', which was just water. After several cups of tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, my Mom came home. My Dad made her wait in the living room to watch
me bring him a cup of tea, because it was 'just the cutest thing!!'

My Mom waited, and sure enough, here I come down the hall with a cup of tea for Daddy and she watches him drink it up, then says, 'Did it ever occur to you that the only place that baby can reach to get water is the toilet??'

Friday

After being teased with the description of the wonderful weather south of here, we had just the tiniest glimpse at the coming Spring today. It was a plesant 63-degrees. Fabulous.

Walter came by the office at lunch time and took me out to Panera for lunch. It was nice to get out of the office for a short while.

This evening we moved into some really unpleasant chores, cleaning out his vehicle from his trip this week and doing his taxes (YUCK). Mr. Grumpy was present for the whole process. But a whipped up batch of cookies have improved his disposition.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Ghetto Spelling Bee
Tyreal came home from school disappointed. "I hate English, dem teachers are always changing stuff".

Mother: "Tyreal, have you been using bad words and writing dirty notes again?"

Tyreal: "Naw, momma, I sware I didn't. I used all of my spelling words in a sentence like the teacher say, but the teacher, she gave me an "F".

1. HOTEL - My Momma said that she ain' gon tell her friend Shaqueta nothing else, cause that HOTEL everthang she know.
2. HONOR ROLL - We was playing bidwiz on the stoop the other day and man, I was HONORROLL.
3. PLANET - Leroy got arrested cause he got him some seed to grow weed, and he PLANET in the backyard.
4. DISMAY - I went for a blood test, the doctor pulled out a needle and said DISMAY hurt a little.
5. OMELETTE - I should punch you for what you jes said but OMELETTE it go dis time.
6. STAIRWAY - Getting high is stupid. It makes you STAIRWAY into space.
7. MOBILE - I went to buy some food, I was short on cash, and my man said gimme one MOBILE.
8. DEFENSE - I saw this dude running from the! cops, but he hopped DEFENSE and got away.
9. AFRO - I got so mad at my girl, AFRO a lamp at her.
10. AFTERMATH - I don't feel like being at school today so AFTERMATH , I'm out.
11. LOCKET - I slam the door so hard, I LOCKET.
12. DOMINEERING - My girl's birthday was yesterday, so I got her a DOMINEERING.
13. KENYA - I needed money for the subway, so I axe a stranger KENYA spare some change.
14. DERANGE - DERANGE is where da deer and da antelope play.
15. DATA - At my basketball game, I scored thirty points My coach say DATA boy.
16. BEWARE - I asked the man at the unemployment office, "Is dis BEWARE I can get a job?"
17. DIMENSION - I be tall, dark, handsome and not DIMENSION smart.
18. COATROOM - The judge said, "One more outburst, you'll be thrown out de COATROOM ."
19. DECIDE - My boy fronting' like he love his girl but eribody know he got a couple of chicks on DECIDE.
20. FASCINATE - Her dress got 10 buttons, but she so big she can't FASCINATE .

Thursday

Once again, Happy Valentine's Day to everyone. Miss Connie, at work, treated us all to candy hearts; and one of the local orthodontist sent us frosted sugar cookies.

Going to the car this morning, I was greeted by a thin layer of ice topped with an extremely thin layer of snow. Of course, the car door was frozen shut as was the lock on the driver's side. I had to push open the driver's door from the backseat in order to get out this morning, but that wasn't too much inconvenience. It could have been MUCH worse.

I went out around lunch time and picked up Sean. He had gotten it into his head that he needed to pierce his lower lip with a paper clip. It is really an interesting look. He's has gotten a stud to put into, but I'm hoping that by the next time that we get together that he is back to his old self. Until then.....

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Thought For the Day: 'Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not.'~ Thomas Jefferson

FIREARMS REFRESHER COURSE

1. An armed man is a citizen. An unarmed man is a subject.
2. A gun in the hand is better than a cop on the phone.
3. Colt: The original point and click interface.
4. Gun control is not about guns; it's about control.
5. If guns are outlawed, can we use swords?
6. If guns cause crime, then pencils cause misspelled words.
7. Free men do not ask permission to bear arms.
8. If you don't know your rights, you don't have any.
9. Those who trade liberty for security have neither.
10. The United States Constitution (c) 1791. All Rights Reserved.
11. What part of 'shall not be infringed' do you not understand?
12. The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
13. 64,9 99,987 firearms owners killed no one yesterday.
14. Guns only have two enemies; rust and politicians.
15. Know guns, know peace, know safety. No guns, no peace, no safety.
16. You don't shoot to kill; you shoot to stay alive.
17. 911: Government sponsored Dial-a-Prayer.
18. Assault is a behavior, not a device.
19. Criminals love gun control; it makes their jobs safer.
20. If guns cause crime, then matches cause arson.
21. Only a government that is afraid of its citizens tries to control them.
22. You have only the rights you are willing to fight for.
23. Enforce the gun control laws we ALREADY have; don't make more.
24. When you remove the people's right to bear arms, you create slaves.
25. The American Revolution would never have happened with gun control.

Winter in Wisconsin
It's winter in Wisconsin
And the gentle breezes blow,
70 miles per hour
At 52 below!
Oh, how I love Wisconsin
When the snow's up to your butt.
You take a breath of winter air
And your nose is frozen shut.
Yes, the weather here is wonderful,
I guess I'll hang around.
I could never leave Wisconsin,
'Cause I'm frozen to the ground.

Stocking Purchase
Walking into a lingerie store, a customer says to the clerk, "I'd like to buy a pair of stockings for my wife."

The clerk asks, "Sheer?"

The man replies "No. She's in another store."

Pray At Work

Happy Valentine's Day!

I got this cutie from Mom!

Wednesday

The weather for the day turned out to be cold, wet and just downright miserable. If the temperature drops we could have snow late this evening. The whole day just had that flat gray look to it. Burr...makes me cold just to think about it.

I picked Sean up from school this afternoon - he appears to be coming down with something - I'm hoping that it isn't another round of pneumonia.

On the brighter side....

The office received a surprise visit from Christie and Carter this afternoon. It was so good to see them. Master Carter is growing so fast. He is already six weeks old.

I had a great time getting to carry him around the office and have him be my surrogate grandchild. He and I had a grand time walking around the office visiting with everyone.

I could just spoil him rotten. It was fun getting to play with a little one again. I've told Christie I would be happy to sit for her on a Friday night every now and then.

















Walter & Patrick came back from Lynchburg early. Sleeping on the floor wasn't cutting it with Walter's injury. He thought that he could do it, but on top of the cold weather and everything else it just worked against them. They made it back into to town without a hitch and even had time to go out to see a movie.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Quote For the Day: During his 1956 presidential campaign, a woman called out to Adlai E Stevenson, "Senator, you have the vote of every thinking person!" Stevenson called back, "That's not enough, madam, we need a majority!"

Tuesday

The day has been frightfully cold and brittle. A group from the office got together to battle the elements to head out together for lunch at Applebee's. It was nice to get out of the office as a group.

I got a call from the apartment managment early in the day - they have a larger apartment for Walt & I. It turns out that it is the exact apartment that we lived in in 1988 when he was 16 months old! How ironic, that he and I moved out of that apartment together and now we're moving back into it together. Very, very odd.

Here is the location of the new apartment in relationship to where we are now.

Here's a close up of the building. Our apartment is the one nearest the parking lot on the first floor.
Walter & Patrick made it safely to Lynchburg. They are planning on spending several days at a cabin there. I just hope that they stay warm. The weather report for Lynchburg is frezing rain.

Sunday

The temperature has definitely dropped - it was so nice when I went out yesterday morning and now it is quite brisk.

I was goofing off waiting for Walter to get up this morning and I came across the Microsoft version of Google Earth. I put in our address and got back this great birds eye view of the apartments. It picture is probably a couple of years old but really great.


Walter finagled me into making him some peanut butter candy this morning. Since I don't do it too often it is a particularly special treat.

Walter wanted to go out this afternoon to do some shopping Wal-Mart. On the way out we pass a whole lot of destruction:

• Two trees had been blown down at the end of the road coming out of the apartments.
• At the traffic signal a few blocks away, on of the signals had been broken lose and appeared to be ready to fall onto the road.
• There was a fire truck sitting at the front entrance to Chesterfield Mall.
• Then there was a fire truck that was headed down Courthouse Road in the direction of Hull Street.
• Plus three different intersections where the signal lights were out.

On the way back we saw:

• A fire truck in front of Haverty's.
• A fire truck pull into Famous Daves where there was a number of fires in the mulch in front of the restaraunt. There were at least three employees chasing the fire around with fire extinguishers as well.
• At the intersection of Midlothian Turnpike & Turner we saw at least three near miss accidents.
• A final firetruck was heading off toward Chippenham as we prepared to turn back into the apartment complex.
• Oh, yes the traffic lights were still out.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

WHY I LOVE MOM

Mom and Dad were watching TV when Mom said, "I'm tired, and it's getting late. I think I'll go to bed."

She went to the kitchen to make sandwiches for the next day's lunches. Rinsed out the popcorn bowls, took meat out of the freezer for sup per the following evening, checked the cereal box levels, filled the sugar container, put spoons and bowls on the table and started the coffee pot for brewing the next morning. She then put some wet clothes in the dryer, put a load of clothes into the washer, ironed a shirt and secured a loose button She picked up the game pieces left on the table, put the phone back on the charger and put the telephone book into the drawer. She watered the plants, emptied a wastebasket and hung up a towel to dry.

She yawned and stretched and headed for the bedroom. She stopped by the desk and wrote a note to the teacher, counted out some cash for the field trip, and pulled a text book out from hiding under the chair.

She signed a birthday card for a friend, addressed and stamped the envelope and wrote a quick note for the grocery store. She put both near her purse.

Mom then washed her face with 3 in 1 cleanser, put on her Night solution & age fighting moisturizer, brushed and flossed her teeth and filed her nails.

Dad called out, "I thought you were going to bed."

"I'm on my way," she said.

She put some water into the dog's dish and put the cat outside, then made sure the doors were locked and the patio light was on.

She looked in on each of the kids and turned out their bedside lamps and TV's, hung up a shirt, threw some dirty socks into the hamper, and had a brief conversation with the o ne up still doing homework.

In her own room, she set the alarm; laid out clothing for the next day, straightened up the shoe rack. She added three things to her 6 most important things to do list. She said her prayers, and visualized th e accomplishment of her goals.

About that time, Dad turned off the TV and announced to no on e in particular. "I'm going to bed."

And he did...without another thought.

Anything extraordinary here? Wonder why women live longer...?

CAUSE WE ARE MADE FOR THE LONG HAUL..... (and we can't die sooner, we still have things to do!!!!)

Saturday Excursions

The morning started out bright an early. I'm getting ready to get out of the house and hit the DMV first thing. Time to get the car title and registration all put into order. Then on the credit union to do the same thing. I do hope that lines will not be long and that everyone will be cooperative.

I've got to run by the supply house and pick up a couple of perms, but if I have time I'm going to slip into the nail salon and treat myself to a pedicure. After all the extra weekend work over the past month it will feel great! Who knows I might even get my nails done as well.

The day went terrific. It did take a while at the DMV, but I was able to get the title changed over to just my name. It didn't dawn on me until they had given me the new title that it is the first time that I've ever been the sole owner on a vehicle. The bank went equally as well, except that they have changed their policy on how to sign in for service. After almost 30 years of signing in at a podium - they sudden changed to having customers sign in with the tellers. So you wait in line for the teller to be signed in to talk to someone in the service area; only to then have to wait more on the service representative. I suggested that they put up a sign to notify people about the change and they told me that they couldn't. I pursued that a bit and they told me that they couldn't put up a sign because other branches hadn't. (I'm guessing about this point that that common sense had left the building.)

I was able to get in the salon and have my pedicure, nails and eyebrows done. The massaging chair was almost worth the whole trip. Ahh relaxation! Definitely a pampering experience.

I got out to Mom & Dad's to go to work on getting two perms put in. Mamaw was first up. I remember the first time that I gave her a perm way back in 1979, she was the first person that I ever gave a perm to. Funny, I still even have perm rods from then. Her perm came out very nice. Mom's went off with out a hitch and looked great. I was also able to get my laundry done at the same time. No laundry mat this week. Yippee!

It was nice watching the birds at the feeder. I have missed that since I've been in the apartment. I couldn't believe that I was able to get this photo of one of the birds through the window. From the deck I could even see the daffodils, they are already up about six inches and a number of other flowers are popping up as well. It was rejuvenating to be outside enjoying the day.

I dropped by Alice's house on the way back home and picked up some videos from her on how to draw the human body. It is composed of almost 200 lessons, so I thought it would be fun to to try.

MT - How was the fishing?

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Heredity
With her brown eyes and curly hair, our youngest daughter takes after my husband. At three, she was a lively, mischievous girl, and people often remarked on how cute she was. One day I was standing with her in the supermarket when a woman commented on how cute she was.

My smile disappeared when she asked, "Is she really yours?"

Psychology Course
During a phone conversation, my nephew mentioned that he was taking a psychology course at the university.

"Oh, great," I said. "Now you'll be analyzing everyone in the family."

"No, no," he replied. "I don't take abnormal psychology until next semester."

Friday

It has been a full week. Lots of little surprises which have been highly enjoyed.

On the way into work this morning I noticed that the forsythia bushes had burst into full color. It won't be too long now before the hostas start coming up as well as the peonys. I haven't checked on the dogwood yet, but that usually is beginning to put forth leaves before the hostas start to show. It all means that Spring isn't too far off. Although we could feasibly get a snow in March, but the odds of that aren't very good.

This is a sunset photo that I took on Wednesday evening - I pulled off the road on the way home to snap it.


Walter brought Carla upstairs this evening. He thought that she needed to get out of the house for a bit this evening. So she has been absolutely funny...she keeps 'whining', walking to the door, back to me, sitting down looking at me, whining some more and repeating the whole process. It is too funny.

What brought all this on is residual from Walter's accident. Right afterward I would bring her upstairs to spend the day with him, while I was off at work. Then every evening after I would come home after work and take her back home for the the rest of the evening. So lately every time that Walter & I are in the same room she thinks it's time to go home.

Tomorrow is going to be fairly busy. I'm off to the DMV and the bank to handle business there and then on to Mom & Dad's house to give Mom & Mamaw Stapleton perms. I may even be able to persuade Walter into taking Carla to PetSmart to have her nails trimmed.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Thought For the Day: "Treat your body like a temple, not a woodshed. The mind and body work together. Your body needs to be a good support system for the mind and spirit. If you take good care of it, your body can take you wherever you want to go, with the power and strength and energy and vitality you will need to get there." - Jim Rohn

One Sign You're Driving Too Fast........

I GOT STOPPED FOR SPEEDING THE OTHER DAY
I THOUGHT I COULD TALK MY WAY OUT OF IT
UNTIL THE COP LOOKED AT MY DOG IN THE BACK SEAT

Just Stay

A nurse took the tired, anxious serviceman to the bedside.

"Your son is here," she said to the old man.

She had to repeat the words several times before the patient's eyes opened.

He was heavily sedated because of the pain of his heart attack, he dimly saw the young uniformed Marine standing outside the oxygen tent. He reached out his hand. The Marine wrapped his toughened fingers around the old man's limp ones, squeezing a message of love and encouragement.

The nurse brought a chair so that the Marine could sit beside the bed. All through the night the young Marine sat there in the poorly lighted ward, holding the old man's hand and offering him words of love and strength.

Occasionally, the nurse suggested that the Marine move away and rest awhile. He refused. Whenever the nurse came into the ward, the Marine was oblivious of her and of the night noises of the hospital - the clanking of the oxygen tank, the laughter of the night staff members exchanging greetings, the cries and moans of the other patients.

Now and then she heard him say a few gentle words. The dying man said nothing, only held tightly to his son all through the night.

Along towards dawn, the old man died. The Marine released the now lifeless hand he had been holding and went to tell the nurse. While she did what she had to do, he waited.

Finally, she returned. She started to offer words of sympathy, but the Marine interrupted her.

"Who was that man?" he asked.

The nurse was startled, "He was your father," she answered.

"No, he wasn't," the Marine replied. "I never saw him before in my life."

"Then why didn' t you say something when I took you to him?"

"I knew right away there had been a mistake, but I also knew he needed his son, and his son just wasn't here. When I realized that he was too sick to tell whether or not I was his son, knowing how much he needed me, I stayed."

The next time someone needs you ... just be there. Stay.

Here's To Another Year!

Here's to a fabulous 19th year. May your dreams and wishes all be within your reach.

Love, Mom

Thursday

The wind has been really kicking up. It has almost been like being at the beach when a storm is coming in. Definitely not of tropical storm or hurricane magnitude, just an everyday thunderstorm. So far, no rain or even a hint of any, but according to the illustrious weather casters it is on the way (at least it was last night - I just check the new forecast - and it is lovely weather for the rest of the week).

I have heard various and sundry things falling and crashing down in the woods. I'm sure that there will be a large quantity of debris all over the place when I head out.

I only got settled down last night after having battened down the hatches. I was a little slow though. The wind caught the screen door on the porch and and ripped it right off the hinges. It even splintered the area around teh hinges. I see repairs in the near future.

Carla climbed up on the bed with me to settle in for the night. The winds through the night must have stayed calm, because this morning she was sleeping soundly in the wing chair. I was half expecting to find her being "Miss Chicken" shaking under the bed if there had been a storm. She is just so funny that way.

Well at the temperature did drop so it isn't quite as warm as it was yesterday morning. I do hope that it doesn't climb all the way back up to 80 again today. It would be nice to ease into summer weather, and have an actual spring.

I do hope that Danielle had a wonderful birthday today. I thought about her on several occasions during the day. I do however, hope that she knows that I love her and wish the best for her.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

My Daddy Is A Dancer

One day last week, a fourth-grade teacher asked the children what their fathers did for a living.

All the typical answers came up: Fireman, Mechanic, Businessman, Salesman, Doctor........

However, little Justin was being uncharacteristically quiet, so when the teacher prodded him about his father, he replied,"My father's an exotic dancer in a gay cabaret and takes off his clothes in front of other men and they put money in his underwear. Sometimes, if the offer is really good, he will go home with some guy and stay with him all night for money."

The teacher, obviously shaken by this statement, hurriedly set the other children to work on some math problems and then took little Justin aside to ask him, "Is that really true about your father?"

"No," the boy said, "He works for the Democratic National Committee and is helping to get Hillary Clinton elected as our next President, but I was too embarrassed to say that in front of the other kids.

Wednesday

As I was getting ready for work this morning, the morning weather came on and much to my amazement the expected high temperature for the day is 81-degrees. If it reaches that it will be a new record high. If it keeps this up, we'll all be in shorts by the weekend.

It was an extremely hot day - the office was even warm. Time for a fan...

One of the doctors from our last conference sent us a very nice gift basket to those of us who had worked on the conference. It was such a very sweet thing for him to do. It was definitely an unexpected gesture.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:


HEMA
HEMA is a Dutch department store. The first store opened on November 4,1926, in Amsterdam. Now there are 150 stores all over the Netherlands.

HEM also has stores in Belgium, Luxemburg, and Germany. In June of this year, HEMA was sold to British investment company Lion Capital.

Take a look at http://producten.hema.nl/ HEMA's product page. You can't order anything and it's in Dutch but just wait a couple of seconds and watch what happens.

This company has a sense of humor and a great computer programmer

Tuesday

I spent most of the day yesterday, in bed. Trying to get over whatever this nasty bug was that I had caught. Today has been progressively better. I'll be getting back to work tomorrow.

I wish I hadn't been feeling bad otherwise I would have really been able to enjoy the lovely weather that we've had for the past two days.

I looked out at the therometer this afternoon around 4:30 and it read 80-degrees. How's that for a winter's day in February?! Definitely hard to believe. For a few minutes there I thought that I had time warped back to 1985 and to Southern California.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Power of Advertising

Two young boys walked into a pharmacy one day, picked out a box of tampons and proceeded to the checkout counter.

The man at the counter asked the older boy, "Son, how old are you?"

"Eight," the boy replied.

The man continued, "Do you know what these are used for?"

The boy replied, "Not exactly, but they aren't for me. They're for him. He's my brother. He's four. We saw on TV that if you use these you would be able to swim and ride a bike. Right now, he can't do either one."

Mom's Phone

Because my mother had a habit of losing her cordless phone, I bought her a phone with a clip on it so she could attach it directly to her belt. A few days later, I walked into my mother's home and found her standing in the middle of the living room, halfway dressed. That didn't strike me as odd so much as the fact that she was holding her pants to the side of her head and speaking into them.

"Don't look at me that way," she yelled. "The phone started ringing and I couldn't figure out how to undo this stupid clip!"

Toilet Theft

Police in New Zealand were mystified by the apparent theft of a complete toilet bowl from a police station in Auckland.

When a local news reporter asked the police sergeant if they had any leads, he replied, "At present we have nothing to go on."

Super Sunday

I picked Sean up last night after the conference. He and I hit the grocery store to get a few items for the weekend and headed home. We finished off the night by watching Georgia Rule. This is a strange movie - good, but strange....

I'm skipping church this morning. It is anniversary Sunday so they are having a breakfast at the church followed by singing from the Sounds of Liberty and right now I just can't stomach anything that has to do with Liberty University. I may be wrong, but I just really have problems with the school. Most likely misdirected anger or frustration.....for now it's just better to avoid anything remotely connected with it.

Once Sean wakes up for the day - I'm finally going to get my laundry done. I surely do hate having to do laundry across the street. June is going to be a relief when I move into the apartment with a washer & dryer. Laundry at the ready and no need to chase down rolls and rolls of quarters everytime I want to wash something. It will also give me a guest room for Sean as well. Another positive change.

After Walter got home this afternoon we took a brief journey out to Chipolte's for lunch. Then back home for lunch - we watched some odd movie that Walter had that was big on spoofing sports movies. Sean and I came back to the apartment and gathered up my laundry and have got it over at the laundry "processing". I've got to get back in about 10 minutes to change it over to the dryer. Sean has been playing some computer game.

Walter, Sean and I are going to watch the Super Bowl together. We have some snacks and I have put on the crockpot full of beef with vegetable for dinner. They will probably eat some of it between the commercials.

The contents of the crockpot will just have to wait until tomorrow....the boys decided that we need to have pizza with the game. And what a game it was to watch. The New York Giants really did pull off an amazing upset. Danielle is surely going to get some ribbing from Walter over this. I know that she was rooting for the New England Patriots. Perhaps next year they will be able to do it again. You never know.

Just as soon as House comes on, I'm pushing the record button and am hoping in the bed. There is another busy week ahead.

Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Answered Prayer

During the minister's prayer, one Sunday, there was a loud whistle from one of the back pews. Gary's mother was horrified. She pinched him into silence and, after church, asked, "Gary, whatever made you do such a thing?"

Gary answered, soberly, "I asked God to teach me to whistle. and He just then did!"

Saturday in Richmond

I headed into town early this morning for the last day of our conference. We had board room on the 18th floor for breakout meetings, so I took advantage of the early hour to scoot up the elevator and snap some views of the city.

These bottom two are shots looking southwest with Broad Street in the foreground.

Friday

The morning began at a very early hour. Carla was barking like crazy right around 1:15 a.m. In the haze of sleep, I couldn't figure out what actually was goingng on. For moment there I thought that I had locked her outside on the porch and just gone back to bed. But to my amazement when I got to the living room and looked out the back door, where Carla stood barking, I was able to plainly see the sihillote what appeared to be an albino deer. I grabbed the camera and tried to scoot out the door without Carla darting down the into the woods. No such luck. But it was a truly memorable site to see.

Dr. Natalie gave me permission to put this up for everyone to read, it is truly a hoot. Enjoy!
Email & Newsletter Gleanings:

Kissing - A means of getting two people so close together that they can't see anything wrong with each other.

Uncle Paul

"Hello?"

"Hi honey. This is Daddy. Is Mommy near the phone?"

"No Daddy. She's upstairs in the bedroom with Uncle Paul."

After a brief pause, Daddy says, "But honey, you haven't got an Uncle Paul."

"Oh yes I do, and he's upstairs in the room with Mommy, right now."

Brief Pause.

"Uh, okay then, this is what I want you to do. Put the phone down on the table, run upstairs and knock on the bedroom door and shout to Mommy that Daddy's car just pulled into the driveway."

"Okay Daddy, just a minute."

A few minutes later the little girl comes back to the phone.

"I did it Daddy."

"And what happened honey?"

"Well, Mommy got all scared, jumped out of bed with no clothes on and ran around screaming. Then she tripped over the rug, hit her head on the dresser and now she isn't moving at all!"

"Oh my God!!! What about your Uncle Paul?"

"He jumped out of the bed with no clothes on, too. He was all scared and he jumped out of the back window and into the swimming pool. But I guess he didn't know that you took out the water last week to clean it. He hit the bottom of the pool and I think he's dead."

***Long Pause***

***Longer Pause***

***Even Longer Pause***

Then Daddy says, "Swimming pool?"

"Is this 486-5731?"

Stolen Turkey
Ducking into confession with a turkey in his arms, Brian said, "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. I stole this turkey to feed my family. Would you take it and settle my guilt?"

"Certainly not," said the Priest. "As penance, you must return it to the one from whom you stole it."

"I tried," Brian sobbed, "but he refused. Oh, Father, what should I do?"

"If what you say is true, then it is all right for you to keep it for your family."

Thanking the Priest, Brian hurried off.

When confession was over, the Priest returned to his residence. When he walked into the kitchen, he found that someone had stolen his turkey.

Frisbees
The other day I was standing in the park wondering why Frisbees get bigger and bigger the closer they get.

Then it hit me.

Walking Home From Church

A little boy was walking down a dirt road after church one Sunday afternoon when he came to a crossroads where he met a little girl coming from the other direction.

"Hello," said the little boy. "Hi," replied the little girl.

"Where are you going?" asked the little boy.

"I've been to church this morning and I'm on my way home," answered the little girl.

"I'm also on my way home from church. Which church do you go to?" asked the little boy.

"I go to the Baptist church back down the road," replied the little girl. "What about you?"

"I go to the Methodist church back at the top of the hill," replied the little boy.

They discover that they are both going the same way so they decided that they'd walk together. They came to a low spot in the road where spring rains had partially flooded the road, so there was no way that they could get across to the other side without getting wet.

"If I get my new Sunday dress wet, my Mom's going to skin me alive," said the little girl.

"My Mom'll tan my hide, too, if I get my new Sunday suit wet," replied the little boy.

"I tell you what I think I'll do," said the little girl. "I'm gonna pull off all my clothes and hold them over my head and wade across."

"That's a good idea,"replied the little boy. "I'm going to do the same thing with my suit."

So they both undressed and waded across to the other side without getting their clothes wet. They were standing there in the sun waiting to drip dry before putting their clothes back on, when the little boy finally remarked ...

"You know, I never realized before just how much difference there really is between a BAPTIST and a METHODIST!!!"